Principal Opportunities

Oversees systems, structures, and processes for continuous improvement.

1. Vision, mission & goals: Collaboratively sets evidence-based vision, mission, and goals that reflect high expectations for every student & ensures the vision, mission and goals drive school decisions.
2. Strategic planning & change management: Collaboratively creates and executes schoolwide plans supported by strategic and equitable resource allocation resulting in an effective change management process.
3. Continuous improvement: Creates and implements a continuous improvement cycle that integrates transparent planning, implementation, data review, and strategic adjustments in order to achieve sustained practices that result in measurable improvement.

Ensures rigorous and coherent curriculum, instruction and assessments aligned to the needs of every student

1. Courses & content: Ensures academic programming and curricula are culturally responsive, rigorously prepare students for academic and postsecondary success, and align to student and school needs.
2. Instructional strategies: Oversees implementation of effective instructional strategies and interventions aligned to student and school needs. 
3. Balanced Assessment Systems: Oversees the implementation of a balanced assessment system that measures the depth and breadth of student learning, monitors progress towards college and career readiness, and produces actionable data to inform planning for instruction, academic supports, and resource allocation.

Ensures that organizational norms, routines and systems equitably promote the students’ intellectual, social, and emotional development

1. Family & community engagement: Proactively fosters relationships with families, local school committees, and community members. Leverages family and community assets, and helps students and families own and contribute to school’s goals.
2. Connectedness & wellbeing: Creates a school climate that promotes social, emotional and physical health and ensures the safety, positive behavior, and well-being of all students, staff and self.
3. Systems & structures: Effectively organizes and manages school logistics (communication, scheduling, space, procedures, etc.) to accomplish school goals and create a positive, inclusive school culture.

Ensures development, and retention of diverse talent and cultivates distributed leadership structures

1. Development & evaluation: Creates opportunities and structures for continuous growth of staff and self by ensuring they have equitable access to training, coaching and/or other developmental resources. Provides fair assessments of performance including timely feedback to inform development.
2. Professional culture & retention: Creates a collaborative professional culture in which staff of all backgrounds feel valued, respected, and want to stay and contribute to the school’s goals.
3. Distributed leadership: Creates and supports effective teams, consistently distributing leadership roles and responsibilities, and develops staff leadership capacity in a manner that results in improvements to academic and operational performance.

Each Local School Council (LSC):

1. Determines position requirements and additional application materials based on the vision, mission, goals and needs of the individual school.
2. Receives all qualified candidate resumes and applications within three (3) business days following the Application Deadline along with verification of each candidate’s Eligibility status.
3. Determines their own interview process and timetable.
4. May vote to select a principal candidate at any time following initial screening of candidates but often hold multiple interviews in order to select the most qualified candidate for their school. Many LSCs host candidate forums which are an opportunity for the school community to meet finalist candidates.
5. Will contact candidates directly to schedule and conduct interviews for their school.

LSCs: Please follow Principal Posting Instructions and Principal Posting Template. Deadline to submit post is Tuesdays by 4pm.

To assist and inform the Local School Council (LSC) in the Principal Selection Process, a Principal Selection Committee (PSC) may be formed comprised of LSC members, teachers, and community representatives. This PSC may conduct certain steps in the process and may recommend its preferred candidate to the LSC.

1. Complete Training
   • LSC completes the Principal Selection Training provided by the Office Of LSC Relations prior to undertaking the process of selecting a principal candidate.
2. Prepare and Post Advertisement
   • LSC prepares advertisement for CPS principal opportunities.
   • The LSC may seek feedback from school community on content of the ad.
   • LSC votes to approve ad and LSC Chair gets approval of ad from the Chief of Schools.
   • LSC Chair submits approved ad to the Department of Principal Quality by Tuesday 4pm for Wednesday E-bulletin.
   • Ad must post a minimum of 10 school days.
3. Review Resumes
   • The Department of Principal Quality compiles and reviews all applicant Eligibility and sends a Candidate Slate, resumes, and materials to the LSC or PSC Chair for review within two days of closing of ad. Note, Candidate Slate will indicate each candidates’ Eligibility.
   • LSC or PSC reviews resumes against the Worksheet for Resume Screen and Resume Screening Guide (LSC Reference Guide Part 6 Forms 4 and 5).
   • LSC or PSC selects potential candidates for interviews.
   • LSC or PSC selects potential candidates for interviews.
4. Interview Candidates
   • LSC or PSC conducts first and, possibly, second round interviews with candidates.
   • LSC or PSC completes candidate Reference Checks.
5. Engage Community
   • LSC or PSC presents selected finalist(s) to the school community in an open forum.
   • LSC or PSC may provide an opportunity for teachers and parents to question finalizes and offer impression/comments after meeting candidates.
   • LSC or PSC reviews and assesses feedback.
6. Select Finalist
   • If a PSC was formed, may recommend its preferred candidate to the LSC.
   • LSC reviews recommendations of the PSC, if any, and selects finalist via public vote to award contract (7 votes minimum).
   • LSC extends an offer to the selected finalist.
   • LSC Chair notifies LSC Facilitator, Chief of Schools, and Principal Quality of selection.
   • Upon acceptance of the offer, the candidate signs five originals of four-year Board of Education’s Uniform Principal Performance Contract. Distribute: (1) new principal keeps; (1) LSC keeps; (1) delivered to Network office; (1) delivered to LSC relations; (1) delivered to Department of Principal Quality.